i'm calling it right now, the season will start January 1st with every team playing and it will be much like Hockey Day with Nationally televised games at 1pm 7pm 10pm

for bonus points the nationally televised games will be 1pm Boston vs NYR 7pm Pittsburgh vs Philly 10pm Detroit vs Chicago, alternatively if they want to keep all games within division 1 pm can be Boston vs Buffalo

If they come to an agreement the next few days, there's no reason they have to wait that long. Besides, they haven't officially canceled games from the 15th on, the 15th's a Saturday, it wouldn't shock me if that was the target start date if this somehow gets done in the next couple days. Or Christmas if it gets slightly more drawn out.